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December 31, 2013

What We Did for Christmas. An Essay.

What We Did for Christmas: An Essay the Old Fashioned Middle-School Way.

Christmas comes one time each year. Each year at Christmas, we go to Colorado and hope for snow. The last three years, we had some snow. This year we did not have snow. We drove in a caravan of cousins and brothers and sisters up the Rocky Mountains to about 11,000 feet and finally found snow. When we were up there, we sledded, we froze, and then after that, we went all the way home back to California.

Once we found snow, we pulled our sleds out of the back of our cars and dragged them up the sledding hill. It was rocky and icy. We broke three sleds going down those rocky slopes. HWWV got a bruise on his butt. Girlfriend hit it like a pro and was one of the cousins who went up and own the most times. Her uncle Marc said that Girlfriend was an old pro not only because she went down and up so many times but that she never complained that her younger 3-yr old cousin got more attention than she did.

After about an hour, my sister and I discovered that wearing our snow boarding outer layers was not a good idea at 11,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. When I wear the inner layers, which are slippery, my outer layers fall down when I ski or sled. Thinking that because it was so warm down at about 6,000 feet, that it would also be warm at 11,000 feet, I left my inner layers behind so that my pants didn't fall down while sledding. They fell down big time, anyway, and I got wet inside and outside when we sledded down the hill. When we sledded down the hill we'd kick up snow and it found its way inside every crevice. One time, my sister and I went down the hill and took out a tree trunk. We also almost knocked over about 20 children. (Parents, hello: Don't walk your kids up the center of the sledding hill.)

After we went back to my father's house, we ate Indian food and got on a plane back to California. The following day we did what we do when we're at home-home. Seafood. Beach and sunset. Winter is the best time for the beach where we live.

To summarize: It is always fun when there is snow where you go. And if there is no snow where you go, it is also fun to climb a hill with cousins, brothers and sisters to finally find it way up high, even though it gets cold. Parents should not walk up the middle of sledding hills with little kids, otherwise, they could get hurt. Indian food is good after sledding. Going home and hanging at the beach is even better.

Happy, happy new year, friends. Be warm.

Red Solo Dixie Cup. A must.

Playing the ukulele and eating chips. (P.S. I insist on no Hawaiian music. I like jazzier fare.)

Girlfriend, having the time of her life with her bestie.

Surfers, enjoying the sunset. Did you know there are sharks out there? I know this because I saw it on the news the next morning.

I waited until two days later to tell Girlfriend about it. I assured her that they were just baby Great Whites.

Comments

Thanks for sharing your holiday. I went to the coast in Oregon- and it looks a lot warmer down in Cali. We still played with the waves and went treasure hunting at low tide.
My favorite thing is to have a glass of wine then go for a beach walk in the dark. No flashlights. The stars are so brilliant, and the ocean is magical in the darkness.
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Sledding is a gas, even if you get all wet from the snow finding it's way into your clothes. We checked out the Discovery Channel Shark Week video just before Christmas; nothing like watching scary shark video with Christmas dinner!